Abstract:

The manufacture, storage and transportation of voluminous quantities of hazardous chemicals in the United States and Canada pose serious problems for local and regional planners.  Part of the problem stems from the lack of recognition of these hazards by community personnel most responsible for their mitigation.  The identification of these hazards through risk assessments can thus serve to provide objective confirmation of their existence and can outline the specifications of the problem.

Emergency planners, however, should not merely concern themselves with the physical hazard, "risk", that confronts them.  In developing disaster mitigation strategies, both on the local and regional levels, planners should also take into account the existing state of preparedness of the assessed area, "vulnerability".  For the local planner, knowledge of his community's response capability will indicate the extent to which local hazards pose a genuine danger and whether additional resources should be acquired and mobilized.  This information also enables local policy-makers to decide whether to increase industrial regulation or to upgrade the extant level of preparedness.  For regional planners, vulnerability assessments indicate the needs and resources of localities within their jurisdiction permitting the formulation of policies on rational grounds and the equitable allocation of resources.  Furthermore, such regional assessments can identify the most sensitive localities where more precise hazard assessments can be performed.
These more specific analyses should isolate particularly vulnerable neighborhoods and should be applied to areas where emergency-related resources can be clearly identified.  Regional evaluations, on the other hand, should consist of more basic vulnerability indicators for which data can be easily obtained.  For both types of schemes, the final rating obtained should have relevance for emergency planning.

A regional vulnerability scale should consist of two components.  First, a hazard assessment component where such factors as the density of chemical production and storage facilities in the community, their proximity to populated areas, the various modes of hazardous material transportation and the different forms of chemical threat are considered.  The second component can comprise a checklist of activities to be performed for optimal emergency preparedness and the extent to which such activities are undertaken in a particular community.
 

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